


spooky ghosties hour

by Little Keplerette (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)



Category: Oxenfree
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daycare, Gen, daycare AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-10 18:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10443885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/Little%20Keplerette
Summary: alternate title: Don't Leave Ren, Nona, and Jonas Alone In The Kitchen Without Explicit Supervision





	

" _And you're sure you've got everything with you?"_

"Nona, seriously, I've  _got_ this," Ren laughed, balancing the phone on his shoulder while carrying some utensils in his arms. Behind him, Jonas had Alex, still more asleep than awake, arms wrapped around his neck and her face buried in the hood of his jacket, snoring quietly. Her brother, Michael, trailed a little farther behind them with a small sack of flour over his shoulder and a bag of groceries in one of his hands, and even further behind him was his girlfriend, Clarissa, carrying a box full of puppets that the two siblings would be using later on in the day. "Don't worry so much, okay?"

 _"How can I **not** worry? Miss Maggie could be here at any moment and Miss Anna just phoned telling me that she's only five minutes away from the daycare and I'm the only one here!" _A pause. " _Okay, well, maybe not Miss Maggie, Miss Anna told me she came home from like, a really intense argument with her coworker from her other job and she's probably sleeping in until the afternoon since it's the weekend."_

"We're right outside, Nona, don't worry. Come outside to greet us?"

_"You're right outsi- oh, oh, okay, I see Clarissa, okay. I'm coming out."_

"Wha- Clarissa's still in the car and I'm already out, how did you see her first?!"

_"She has bright red hair, Reginald."_

"Oh,  _now_ you're calling me Reginald too. That's great, everyone just call me Reginald, disregard the fact that I want to be called Ren."

"Reginald," Jonas trilled in a fake high-pitched voice, making Nona - who could hear him through the phone - giggle loudly. "Reginald, my tea, Reginald. Oh dear, Reginald, my doilies have been soaked with tea, could you clean it up, Reginald?"

Ren looked unimpressed. "Very funny you guys."

" _You love us anyway."_

"Yeah, yeah, get out here, Nona, we need help."

Alex made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded like a cross between a snore and a snort, and despite himself, Jonas chuckled, asking, "Is she still clocked out, Michael?"

"You two were up all night on a Scooby Doo marathon, you can't honestly blame her," Michael teased, shifting the flour to the other shoulder and switching the groceries to his other hand. "Sometimes I wonder if you're usurping my role as her brother figure."

Jonas rolled his eyes. "I could never replace the 'big man on campus'."

"Oh, right, garbage snowman. Right."

"Only Alex gets to call me that."

"Garbage snowman," Ren snickered, finally getting some leverage against the taller boy, and Jonas shot him a mock glare, just as Nona burst out from the daycare's front door, waving wildly in greeting, only to take a wrong step and tumble forward on the lawn, knocking Ren over. The blond yelped, the bowls and other cooking utensils flying into the air, and, acting on reflex, Jonas's hands shot out to catch as many of them as he could, though he missed a few, and in doing so he fell over backwards: a whisk bonked Alex in the face and got tangled in her still untied hair while Jonas landed on her, knocking the breath out of her and startling her awake, while a measuring cup managed to catch Michael off guard and sent him reeling backwards, clumsily trying to keep himself upright. He only managed to move quickly enough to get the sack of flour on his chest and the bag of groceries out of the way before he finally keeled over, leaving Clarissa to stand and survey the 'tornado' that had knocked over all of her friends, the box of puppets dropping to the ground as she palmed her face in exasperation, groaning.

"All of you are hopeless," Clarissa grumbled, though it sounded good humored. "Simply hopeless."

"Ha ha, and yet you still love me," was Michael's witty retort.

"Unfortunately."

Alex wheezed, weakly thumping her fist on whatever part of Jonas her fist could reach - which was thankfully enough his chest - and in response, Jonas scrambled off of her, holding out a hand to help her up, which she took gratefully while wheezing, " _God,_ Jonas - what in hell do you  _do?_ Do- do you and Michael, like, work out together or something, because you're just as top heavy as he is!"

"Top heavy?" Jonas glanced at his arms, at his torso, and then at his legs. He was mostly skinny and lean, save for his broad shoulders and chest - he was of similar build to Michael, yes, but Michael visibly had more meat on his bones. "I, uh, don't do whatever it is jocks do to keep themselves all muscly, if that's what you're asking."

"Is that a jab at me?" Michael teased before rolling the sack of flour off his chest and sitting up. "Ow. That measuring cup hit me square in the face, 'rissa, do I have a black eye? Tell me I do so you can kiss it better."

The redhead unintentionally snorted in amusement, eliciting a grin from her boyfriend. "What makes you think I'll kiss whatever black eyes you have away?"

"Because you love me?"

"I'll love you better if you stood up and picked up the groceries."

"You promised no kissy kissy stuff while I was around, bucko," Alex groaned, burying her face into the back of her 'other brother's jacket in what was either mock embarrassment or frustration. "Get me out of here, Jonas, before I die of humiliation. Jonas, away, whatever."

"What am I, a horse?"

"You're my trusty humming barracuda."

"Barracudas don't hum."

Alex stuck out her tongue. "This one does, or is gonna hum unless they want me to punch them silly."

"Alright then. Upsy daisy," Jonas laughed, helping Alex piggyback on him again.

As Clarissa bent over to pick up the box again, Michael warned the other boy, "You are  _not_ allowed to run off with my sister, garbage snowman. She's not going to be your garbage snowman wife or whatever."

"I think the term is 'garbage snow woman', Mikey," Clarissa laughed, straightening out with an 'oof', the box in her hands. "But come on, Jonas wouldn't do that, he's practically your brother from another mother now by this point for both of you - it'd be like dating his own sister."

Jonas's face looked like he had just swallowed a whole bitter gourd. " _Thanks a lot_ for the mental image, Clarissa."

"You are most welcome."

"Fair point, we both share a similar love for annoying the hell out of Als over here," As he spoke, Michael ruffled Alex's hair, making her whine in protest. "And a similar love for spicy Cheetos. We truly are brothers from another mother."

Jonas smiled. "Glad to see the big man on campus thinks of me the way I think of him."

"Ow, that was- ow, okay, that was not graceful at all," Nona groaned, groping around the grass for the beanie that had flown off. A few moments later, a hand placed it atop her searching hand, and with a grateful smile, she jammed it back on her head while sitting up. "Thanks, Ren. Sorry about knocking you and, uh..." She glanced at everyone else, and turned a little pink, seeing the mess she caused. "... and for knocking everyone else over too."

Ren held up a hand. "Everything is fine, Nona, like I told you, don't worry so much. Everything is going to go fi-i-yaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Everything is going to go fiyah?" Alex asked in confusion as Jonas bent his knees every now and then to pick up the scattered utensils Ren had sent flying all over the lawn, handing them off to Alex whenever he retrieved one, who stored them in his hoodie and kept it safe.

"One minute 'til the kids get here, guys! We're all dead!"

Everyone's eyes shrank in fear, and, within moments, they had all run inside.

* * *

"Hi, welcome-"

"Rissa, Rissa!" The child cheered, hopping up and down before tugging at his backpack, whining, "Let me go, Mama, I gotta show Miss Rissa somethin'!"

"He's so rambunctious today, I'm sorry," The mother apologized, ruffling her son's hair. "He was just so excited to show you his new ideas."

Clarissa smiled faintly. "It's no problem, Mrs. Gilbert, really. I don't mind."

"You really are the kids' favorite," Michael mused as Calvin hurriedly put his shoes in the proper place and his bag in his cubby hole before running over and clinging to Clarissa's leg, the way he clung to his own mother's before he had gone to the day care. "It's funny as all hell that they love you this much."

As Mrs. Gilbert left, Clarissa rolled her eyes. "I don't know, Mike, is it funny that you love me so much?"

"Yes, because humor is a good part of any relationship that works."

"Rissa, Rissa, look, see, I- I drew us!" Calvin waved a piece of paper in between Michael and Clarissa's faces the best he could, and delicately, the young woman plucked it from his grip and took a look at it, raising an eyebrow. "I-It's a picture of me bein' all ghosty, like the ghosts in the story, and- and that's you over there, see?" He pointed to a crude drawing of a redheaded lady with eyes colored in with red crayon. "I'm a ghosty and I'm possessin' you!"

Michael doubled over in laughter as Clarissa awkwardly patted his head. "This is, um, a very lovely drawing. I'll, uh, put it up with the others, okay?"

"Put a star pin on it, a star pin!" Pause. "Oh, an' Henry told me to tell you to use the cloud pins on his drawing when he arrives."

"Oh, God," Clarissa groaned before nodding in a tired fashion. "I mean, okay, Calvin, I will, now go play with the pillows and blankets until one of the other kids arrive. I'll be putting this up on the drawing wall."

"Okay!" The kid scurried off, and with that, Clarissa and a still-laughing Michael headed on over to the drawing wall, and, as promised, Clarissa used a star shaped pin to pin up the honestly creepy drawing of her getting 'possessed' by 'spooky ghosties' like from the stories told during story time.

"That makes... how many, now?" Michael wondered out loud.

Clarissa was not impressed. "Ninety six drawings of me getting possessed by children pretending to be fictional dead submarine passengers."

"Terrifying."

"You're their storyteller, besides Alex. This is entirely your fault."

"It's not my fault I'm a compelling storyteller, Rissa!"

* * *

"Alright, so we beat the eggs like so-"

"Jonas, what was  _that?"_

Ren stopped in the middle of his instructive spiel, and looked back. Nona was giving Jonas a dirty look, an arm lifting up the thick curtain of hair on one side of her face to glare with both eyes at the taller hat wearing boy, who held up his hands in surrender, his face contorted into a look of confused dismay.

Ren sighed. "Okay, what's going on?"

"This one kept messing up the recipe," Nona accused. "And nearly knocked me into the next batch of batter!"

Jonas protested, "I'm not good in the kitchen, Nona, I told you guys this already! Best I can make is an omelet and it's always a little burnt underneath!"

"Guys, seriously, I expected me to be fighting with Jonas, what the heck is going on?" Ren groaned before shaking his head. "Okay, just- don't fight. I'll actively look at you guys this time, and I'll supervise. Nothing will go wrong this time, Nona."

Between the six of them, it was recognized that Michael was the best cook, followed by Clarissa. Alex was great on the grill and decent everywhere else, while Jonas was decent at the different ways to cook an egg and barely-passing-for-good at everything else he tried (though recently he had been trying his hand at fish dishes). Nona, on her part, was decent all around, but her talent lay in the presentation of food - she could make Jonas's burnt fish look good, and Michael's lasagna  _excellent_.

Ren, on his part, was a great baker. Michael, Alex, and Clarissa knew this best, having grown up around each other, but Ren was also best known for putting in magic in his brownies. And by magic, we mean 'weed'.

Alex, as much as she loved her best friend, did not trust him enough to not turn 3/4s of the brownies they were supposed to make for the kids at the daycare into weed brownies, and thus, had decided to put Nona and Jonas in charge of making sure he didn't do so. The downside, however, was that Jonas didn't know jack about baking brownies and that Nona's skills - despite how much Ren adored her - weren't really up to par with his baking standards.

At Ren's words, Nona sulked, and then sighed, letting go of the thick curtain of hair she had been holding up. "Sorry for that, Jonas. I'm kind of a little high strung right now, I just-"

"Hey. It's, uh, gonna be okay," Jonas reassured, patting her awkwardly with his shoulder since his hands were covered in flour and sugar. "We all have our bad days-"

"Jonas."

"Yeah, Ren?"

Ren fished out half an eggshell from the batter. "What happened with this one?"

"... That one I accidentally knocked in and couldn't find afterwards."

The blond groaned as Nona tried to joke, "Well... if anything, at least the brownies will be crunchy."

"This isn't helping."

"At least I'm trying."

An hour or so later, Alex walked into the daycare's kitchen to discover-

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Hey, Alex," Jonas greeted lamely.

\- a mess. The whole place was a mess.

Alex looked unimpressed. "Do I even wanna know."

"Before you ask, it's their fault," Nona immediately piped up, crossing her arms to point at both boys on either side of her, cheeks and the bridge of her nose coated in sugar.

Ren, his hair dripping with eggs, sputtered in indignation before pointing at the two wearing hats. "No way, it was  _their_ fault we dissolved into a food fight instead of actually shaping the brownies!"

"Uh, I don't like to point fingers, but... I'm really not the cause of this, they are," Jonas, covered head to toe in flour, pointed hesitantly at the other two, an apologetic look on his face for the mess he knew he had contributed to.

Alex gave them a look that clearly said 'bullshit' before groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright, just... as long as you get the snacks done and clean this up before Miss Shea notices."

"Notices what?"

Alex turned at least three shades whiter.

* * *

The cleanup lasted for about an hour.

Alex, despite not being part of it, was forced to help.

* * *

"And then, with a triumphant laugh, the girl slaps her best friend!"

"Owiiieeee!" The children surrounding the two siblings all chorused, giggling as Alex switched out one of the puppets on her hand for a puppet that oddly enough looked a lot like Ren. Michael, controlling the puppet that looked eerily enough like Alex, made it slap the Ren puppet, and the children all laughed again, one of them falling over in a fit of giggles.

"Ow!" Alex made the Ren puppet say in a proper impersonation of his voice, the blond puppet hunching over in 'pain' as Clarissa - the real Clarissa - laughed on the sidelines, leaning against a wall, her arms crossed. After the fiasco in the kitchen, the snacks had been served - "Free of magic, I promise!" Ren swore - and the kids had been delighted, snatching up a brownie and a juice box before settling down all around the two siblings, who had been setting up the puppet show of the day while they had lined up for their food.

Jonas and Nona, sitting among the kids, laughed as well, imagining the scenario in their head, but with the actual people. Wanting to take a break from all the work, they had settled down with the children to listen to story time, finding that Michael and Alex were  _very_ gripping storytellers in their own right, and it amused Ren and Clarissa to no end to see both of them reacting nearly exactly like the children - if the story took on a scary turn, they gripped each other in terror; if the story called for romance (if any), they showed little to no interest. It was a nice break.

It was a daily thing actually, the puppet show. The stories usually varied, but a favorite story of all the daycare kids happened to be one about expies of the six daycare part timers in a different scenario: they called it 'Oxenfree', after a phrase Clarissa had inserted into the story - "All the outs in free," She had told the others, and for some reason, a chill went up Alex's back that time -, but the kids only knew it as 'spooky ghosties hour', mainly because the main villains were ghosts and Michael and Alex refused to continue the story if it had already been an hour since they started.

If you asked them who wrote Oxenfree, they'd say all of them did, but if you asked them where inspiration came from, they'd give you a strange look, and a distressed look at each other. None of them really knew how to explain that all the things they did during 'spooky ghosties hour' were all dreams they relived night after night, vividly recalled the next day - even though none of them really happened.

Michael would remember drowning, and wake up drenched in sweat and choking on air.

Clarissa would remember getting possessed, being a puppet to the dead, and wake up checking desperately that she was the only one in her own mind, no contract burned into her spine.

Nona would remember a red eyed Alex and a falling Ren, and wake up screaming.

Jonas would remember his mother's song, and wake up sobbing.

Ren would remember nearly drowning, falling, all the instances of his supposed 'death', and wake up clutching his throat, checking desperately to see that he was still breathing.

And Alex... Alex would remember repeating everything. Alex would remember looping everything the others dreamed about, and she would wake up and immediately run to Michael's room, to check if he was still alive, dial everyone else's numbers to check if  _they_ were all alright, before collapsing into a heap on the ground, crying desperately with a relief she didn't expect to burst forth.

None of them knew where these dreams came from, but they kept happening.

(Ren's running theory was horror movies, while Jonas's was the multiverse and that in a different instance those were actual things happening to different versions of them, and Nona's was a simultaneous fever dream that happened every night.)

After a few weeks of it, though, it had been Michael's idea to channel it and translate it into a kid friendly story for the daycare kids. And it had worked, sort of - the nightmarish portions of the dreams were a little more muted, but still present, obviously, and they were all feeling much better after every night. And to top it all off, the kids  _loved_ it. Most of them had even cut up white sheets and dressed  _as_ ghosts during story time, to feel the role.

"I didn't think you had it in you," Michael parroted using the Jonas puppet.

Alex laughed in her own voice before mimicking an angry Ren. "Yeah, she's full of surprises.  _Backstabbing_ surprises."

"That is so you, Reginald, I don't believe this," Clarissa laughed into her palm as the blond sulked next to her. "Come on, tell me, how does Alex know exactly what you would say?"

Ren grumbled, "She knows me too well."

"When're the ghosties coming out?" A child whined near the front.

A boy next to them shoved them over. "Shut up, Francis, they come later!"

"MISS 'ISSAAAAAA, HENRY SHOVED ME!" The boy - Francis - wailed.

"That's your cue," Ren snickered, as Clarissa sighed and inched closer to the two children, taking Francis's hand in one hand and the other child's in her other one. "Ooooh. What's she gonna do?"

The redhead shushed him before turning back to the children. "Okay, listen up, both of you need to be quiet, because Alex and Michael are telling a story. Francis, the ghosts will come later, you know this, you've heard this story before."

"I know..." The boy mumbled. "I was jus' excited 'cause it was my turn to possess you n' stuff."

Clarissa tried not to let him know how weird that sounded with a strained smile. "I, uh, know. But that's not an excuse to interrupt story time for the other kids. Be good now and listen to Alex and Mike, okay?"

"Okay..."

"How are you so great with kids when you utterly hate them?" Ren asked her once she got back in her spot next to him.

Clarissa shook her head. "I don't hate them, Reginald - I'm awkward around them because they're tiny and fragile and their feelings are more simplistic than even yours. There's a difference."

"I guess that makes se- HEY!"

* * *

"How adorable."

Alex glanced at Clarissa oddly. "If you call children sleeping on my two brothers adorable, sure."

"Oh, hush," Clarissa shushed her as Nona pulled out her phone and whispered, "Cheese!", snapping a photo of Michael and Jonas, on the floor of the daycare, sound asleep next to each other, the daycare kids all curled up around and on top of them, snoring. Most of the white sheets the children had re-purposed into ghost costumes had been turned into blankets for naptime, and a good number of the kids had turned the two taller boys into pillows, sleeping next to and clinging to them like they were stuffed animals. It was an adorable sight - one that Ren had to excuse himself from because he needed his own kind of rest - , and even Alex had to admit that it was nice, seeing them so serene.

"It's nice. To see them all peaceful, you know?" Nona mentioned quietly, sitting cross legged next to Alex and Clarissa. "They're usually so noisy."

Alex rolled her eyes in amusement. "They're kids, Nona. I'm sure you and I were just as dumb and noisy."

"Not Nona, she was as quiet as a mouse," Clarissa corrected, giving Nona a small noogie. "That's why we became friends."

Nona stuck out her tongue slightly. "Sure. That's exactly why we became friends, 'Rissa."

"Well, we'd better enjoy it while it lasts, right?" The others turned to watch Ren flop down on a pile of unused pillows. "C'mon, it's called nap time for a reason. Let's nap too."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Ren."

"C'mon, Alex, we earned it today!" Ren pleaded before turning his eyes to Nona. "Nona, back me up here. C'mon, I know you wanna get on the pile with me."

Nona laughed, quietly, so as not to wake the kids, before saying, "He kind of has a point, Alex - we've earned it today, after all that. Maybe we should."

"Somebody has to stay awake, and I volunteer," Clarissa stated before anyone could refute her, and with a sigh, Alex conceded, clambering over to rest on a part of the pillow pile while Nona dove in next to Ren, who grinned like a Cheshire cat before nuzzling into the pillow in front of him, sighing in bliss. The redheaded woman snorted at his action, musing, "My lord, Reginald, the sounds you make."

Ren stuck out his tongue. "I'm enjoying myself, Clarissa. You should try it sometime."

"Maybe later," Clarissa replied before sighing, leaning against the nearest wall and watching. Watching, as Ren drifted off to sleep first, followed by Nona, who had ended up rolling herself up into a burrito with the blankets that had been left unused and away from Ren, though somehow, minutes later, Ren managed to move around in his sleep enough to throw an arm over the Nona-burrito, and when Alex's eyelids finally fluttered closed as she entered dreamland, snoring quietly under her breath, it was with a smile that Clarissa turned her gaze back to Michael, Jonas, and the children of the daycare.

 _Sleeping like babies,_ she mentally mused, before shrugging.  _Ah, whatever. I guess a nap won't hurt._

 

* * *

An hour or so later, when the parents come around to pick up their kids, they are treated to the sight of the six part-timers all sound asleep, the kids draped over most of them - having sleepwalked around for warmth in the form of the six's bodies. A good clump of the kids had gathered around Clarissa, one particular kid - the Salters' kid, Francis, if anyone bothered to check - tucked under her arm and sleeping with a smile on his face, while the rest were on either Jonas, Michael, or Alex. Ren and Nona were relatively untouched save for two or three children sharing the blankets Nona had rolled into by tugging on it hard enough for her to unroll them.

"Adorable, aren't they?" The parents turned to see one of the daycare owners, Anna Shea, smiling tenderly at the sight. "Oh, how I'd hate to wake them. But, alas, it's time to go home for everyone," Raising her voice slightly, Anna called, "Alex. Oh Alex. Wake up, dear."

Silence.

Alex shifted in her sleep a little, and once more, Anna called, "Alex, wake up, dear. It's time to go home."

"Mmmngh..." Alex stretched, and accidentally socked Ren in the eye. The boy shot upwards with a yelp, startling Nona and the three kids that had been leaning against him into awakening, while Clarissa tried to stretch, only to realize that a good number of the kids were draped all over her, sound asleep. Francis Salter had woken up at her movement, however, and had promptly decided to chuck a pillow at the nearest child as a method of waking them up.

It worked - unfortunately.

"Oh boy," Clarissa muttered.

The child woke up, screaming bloody murder and lunging at Francis, waking everyone else up. Jonas and Michael groaned as the vast majority began to wail at being woken up so abruptly, and, as if on cue, the parents all swarmed to their respective children, shooshing them and trying to calm them down while Ren began bickering with Alex for having hit him - "No, I know it's an accident, but it still  _hurt_ , Alex!" "Oh my  _God,_ Ren, what kind of argument is that?!" - and Nona just played patty cake with the three children that had chosen her and her bundle of blankets. Thankfully enough those three were the oldest and calmest of the kids, so they didn't cry, so that helped a little.

"We are  _so_ sorry for the trouble," Mrs. Salter apologized as they led Francis out, sniffling.

Anna Shea just laughed. "Don't worry. They're children; we completely understand."

"Thank you," Both Salter parents bowed their heads a little before scurrying out. They were soon followed by the rest of the parents, until finally, only a few stragglers remained. Jonas and Michael picked up the scattered sheets and pillows as Nona entertained the few remaining children with a game of Pass the Message, while Alex and Ren cleaned up the puppet show materials.

Clarissa was picking up fallen papers when she found tiny feet in her line of vision, and, looking up, she met the eyes of one of the little boys, who was still covered in one of the sheets. A single mother was standing by the door - most likely his mother, since she was looking in their direction -, and he was clearly shaking like a leaf, making Clarissa ask in concern, "What's wrong? Did you forget something?"

"I-I-I-" Another tremble, and finally, the child thrust out a hand, revealing that he had been holding a rose. "F-for you, Miss Rissa!"

Clarissa blinked in utter surprise, but she did take the flower, smiling. "Thank you, this is... sweet of you. Very sweet."

Despite the white sheet obscuring most of his face, Clarissa could tell he was grinning  _and_ blushing numerous shades of red in his embarrassment as he bowed his head and darted over to his mother, who caught him and waved in a friendly fashion at Clarissa, who awkwardly waved back before the two exited the daycare.

Michael whistled. "Should I be worried?"

"Shut up," was Clarissa's response, looking back down at the rose.

It was a really sweet gesture, it really was, and with a gentle smile, she tucked it into her pocket.

She'd press it into a book later.


End file.
